Traveling alarm clock



Aug. 22, 1961 w. GRAEF TRAVELING ALARM CLOCK Filed Feb. 19, 1960 INVENTOR:

A Horney United States Patento Filed Feb. 19, 1960, Ser. No. 9,962 3 Claims. (Cl. 58-21.15)

The present invention relates to improvements in alarm clocks of the type in which the clock is pivotably connected to a casing so that, when the cover of the casing is opened, the lower end of the clock may be res-ted on the front edge of the bottom of the casing and the casing together with the clock will then be disposed in a triangular arrangement.

Clocks of this type are usually called traveling clocks or casing clocks. A very disagreeable feature of such clocks consists in the fact that, inasmuch as the upper edge of the clock is pivotably mounted on the cover of the casing, there is no space available for providing the alarm stop and that, therefore, this stop member is usually provided on the rear side of the clock in the form of a lever. If the user of the clock when winding the same forgets to move this lever from the stopping position to the alarm position, the alarm mechanism will not be released at the desired time and the alarm will not sound.

If, on the other hand, the stop lever is set in the alarm position, but the alarm mechanism is to be shut off before sounding or after it has run 01f, the user of the clock first has to find the hidden stop lever, which particularly in the darkness is rather complicated and bothersome. Also, a person fumbling for the hidden stop lever while still half asleep when the alarm clock rings may easily knock the entire clock to the floor and thereby ruin it.

In order to prevent this, it has already been proposed to design a traveling clock in a manner similar to ordinary alarm clocks by mounting a stop button at the left or right side of the clock housing. This, however, likewise requires a fumbling for the stop button and it has the further disadvantage that, in order to exert the required lateral pressure upon the stop button, the user must grasp the entire clock since he might otherwise not depress the button but in the attempt to do so in the darkness, he might push the whole clock ofi its stand with the result that it might break on the floor.

7 It is an object of the present invention to provide a device for alarm clocks of the mentioned type which permits the alarm mechanism to be stopped as simply and easily as it may be done on ordinary alarm clocks which are provided with a stop button at the upper side thereof.

This object may be attained according to the invention by providing the stop member of the alarm mechanism on the side of the clock facing toward the lock of the casing on the bottom or cover thereof, and by designing this stop member in such a manner that, when the clock is set up, the stop member may be actuated by a slight pressure against the closing member of the clock or upon another projection so as to slide upwardly and thereby to pivot a pawl into locking engagement with a ratchet of the alarm mechanism so as to stop its rotation and thereby to stop the alarm.

If the alarm clock is one of the traveling type which, when set up in its casing, forms a triangular arrangement with the cover and bottom parts of the casing, no more than a slight pressure will be necessary upon the upper edge of the cover or of the clock itself to stop the alarm mechanism. In the darkness or while the user of the clock is still half-asleep, he may do so simply by tapping ice with a finger or his whole hand upon the upper side of the clock or its casing. H I

The device according to the present invention may be provided just as easily on alarm clocks which are pivotably mounted on the cover part of the casing and in which the closing member of the lock is located on the bottom part, or on such alarm clocks in which the clock is pivotably mounted on the bottom part, while the closing member of the casing is located on the cover part.

These objects, features, and advantages of the present invention will become further apparent from the following detailed description thereof, particularly when the same is read with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which- FIGURE 1 shows a side view of a traveling clock according to the invention in the operative position;

FIGURE 2 shows an enlarged side view, partly in cross section, of the alarm stop according to the invention; while FIGURE 3 shows a cross section taken along line III-III of FIGURE 2.

Referring to the drawings, the traveling alarm clock consists in the usual manner of the clock 1, the bottom part 2 of the clock casing, and the cover part 3 thereof. In the particular embodiment illustrated, the closure member 4 of the lock of the casing is mounted on the bottom part 2, while the slidable stop member 5 of the alarm mechanism is mounted on the lower side of clock 1.

Clock 1 is pivotably connected to the cover part 3 of the casing and when set up, the whole clock will be held in a triangular formation by the closing member 4 engaging into an aperture 6 in the clock housing and in a projection 6' thereon. In this position, the upper end of closing member 4 will be in engagement with stop member 5 which is slidable in a direction substantially parallel to the rear wall of the clock housing and is operatively associated with a pawl 7, which, when the alarm mechanism is stopped, engages between the teeth of a ratchet 8 which rotates when the alarm runs off.

When closing member 4 is pressed against stop member 5, the latter will be shifted upwardly and will thereby pivot pawl 7 about its axis so that its detent 10 will then engage between the teeth of ratchet 8 and thereby stop the alarm mechanism.

The releasing of pawl 7 from ratchet 8 occurs automatically in the usual manner when the alarm mechanism is rewound and when no pressure is exerted upon pawl 7 by stop member 5. Stop member 5 then returns to its original position in which it engages against closing member 4 which is held in its normal position by a spring 9. Closing member 4 only has to be actuated when the casing 2, 3 is to be opened, that is, by being pressed toward the left against the action of spring 9, and it is only required for stopping the alarm mechanism insofar as its upper end serves as an abutment which presses against stop member 5 when a pressure is exerted upon the upper end of the clock, that is, either upon the upper end of cover 3 of the casing, as illustrated in FIGURE 1, or upon the upper side of clock 1. Instead of utilizing the closure member 4 to serve as such an abutment, it is also possible to provide another member for this purpose which is secured to the bottom part 2 of the casing and is adapted to act upon stop member 5 when a pressure is exerted upon the top of the casing or clock. Instead of providing the alarm-stopping mechanism at the lower side of the clock and its casing, it is, of course, also possible to mount it at the upper end of the clock and at the upper side of cover 3 of the casing in an inverse position to that shown in FIGURES 1 and 2 when the clock is pivotably connected to-the lower part 2 of the casing rather than to the cover part 3.

Although my invention has been illustrated and described With reference to the preferred embodiments thereof, I wish to have it understood that it is in no Way limited to the details of such embodiments, but is capable of numerous modifications within the scope of the apalarm clock in which said clock is pivotably connected to one part of a casing comprising a bottom part and a cover part connected by a hinge to each other, and said casing and said clock are adapted to be set up in a substantially triangular position, said device comprising a slide member slidably mounted on said clock adjacent to the end of one of said parts of said casing opposite to said hinge, a pawl engaging with said slide member and adapted to act upon said alarm mechanism to stop the same when a pressure is exerted upon said slide membet to slide the same in the direction toward said pawl, and an abutment on one of said parts of said casing engaging with said slide member and adapted to press upon said slide member to act upon said pawl when a pressure is exerted upon the upper end of said clock in said casing in said triangularposition. V

2. A device as definedin claim 1, further comprise,- ing a closing member on one part of said casingfor locking said casing when said clock is pivoted into said casing and said two parts of said casing are closed and for References Cited in the file of this patent FOREIGN PATENTS I 1,013,342 France Oct. 15, 1952 

